Orca (Tiberium Wars)
The Orca Gunship is the third major variant of the Orca Aircraft. Background Upon evaluating the Orca's performance in the Second Tiberium War, GDI completely redesigned the Orca, retaining only its VTOL engines, which have also received a major overhaul. The new gunship is outfitted with heavier armour and wings designed to carry substantial amounts of rockets to engage a variety of targets ranging from infantry to structures. The new model of the Orca has a maximum speed of 400 knots, with a combat range of 300 miles, or 1,180 miles when stripped of combat gear. Its maximum flight altitude is 42,000 feet, with a climb rate of up to 2,500 feet per minute, with a power to mass ratio of 0.19 lbs/hp. The aircraft is crewed by a pilot and a copilot/gunner. It is 58.3 ft long, 48 ft wide, and 12.7 ft high, the Orca also utilizes wing warping for enhanced agility inflight.Electronic Arts, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Video: GDI introduction. Its armament varies, but is in every way superior to its predecessors, and can be composed of an M230 30mm autocannon with 1200 rounds, Hellfire V rockets, AIM-500 Stinger air to air missiles, AGM-240 Sidearm air-to-ground missiles, AIM-18 Sidewinder air intercept missiles and Hydra 70 unguided air-to-ground rockets. Missiles and rockets are mounted on pylons just below the cockpit. Unfortunately, the standard Orca used by most GDI commanders do not have the autocannon OR the air-to-air missiles: only 6 air-to-ground Sidearm guided misiles. As a result, they are only effective against vehicles and structures and are sitting ducks for any aircraft with air to air capability (Venoms, Stormriders, Firehawks, etc.). The missiles cannot track moving infantry, but will kill most with a single hit. Electronic Arts, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Video: GDI introduction. In addition, the Orca is equipped with scanners, allowing it to discharge a pulse every now and then, revealing everything within a radius for a short period of time. They can also be outfitted with sensor pod launchers. These launch sensor pods that will reveal everything within a certain radius. The pods may also be attached to enemy units: useful for revealing where the enemy's bases and units are. An upgrade available to most Orcas (except ZOCOM's Orcas) is the Hardpoint upgrade, which adds another 2 missiles to the Orca's payload (Kane's Wrath only). Orcas have no ejection seats and often pilots are heard screaming in transmissions when they are shot down. ZOCOM does not use this aircraft, instead it uses ZOCOM Orca that fit better with their strategies In-game This aircraft follows the legacy of the old Orca Assault Aircraft, as it is still equipped with air to ground missiles. The difference between the Venom's stealth detection and its stealth detection capabilities was that the Orca will only activate its scanners when ordered to do so. The Venom will automatically detect any stealthed units that are nearby. It's missiles are effective against vehicles and buildings, however, the Firehawk has proven itself to be far more effective at taking out structures. Development The Orca Gunship went through many iterations during development (some can be seen below). When the final look was nailed down, the developers had to decide on what weapons should it use. Early versions included a machinegun and rockets, but before release, the machinegun was axed. The Orca was featured in the E3 C&C3 Trailer alongside other weapons in the GDI arsenal, including the iconic Mammoth 27 tank. It was different in that it had only a single crewman inside and had the aforementioned machine gun. Gallery Image:HPorca.jpg|Orca Gunship with the hardpoints upgrade (Kane's Wrath) Image:Orca Gunship Pilot.jpg|Early models had only a single crewman (C&C3 teaser render) File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Render 1.jpg|Almost-final render Image:CNCTW Orca Upgrades.jpg|Various upgrade options for an Orca File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 1.jpg|Concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 2.jpg|Concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 3.jpg|Concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 4.jpg|Concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 5.jpg|Early concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 6.jpg|Early concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 7.jpg|Early concept art File:CNCTW Orca Gunship Concept Art 8.jpg|Early concept art Image:CNCTW Orca Concept Painting.jpg|Early Orca concept Trivia *It's appearance is similar in appearance to the SparrowHawk from the later-made game Halo Wars. References Category:Aircraft